January 29, 2016 – Today’s history author, Richard Rhodes, has edited or authored several history books including The Making of the Atomic Bomb, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction. His most recent book is Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made. The fighting took place from 1936 to 1939, and so is often lost in the catastrophe of World War Two. But the Spanish Civil War featured many of the same players, and some names from literature that may surprise you. In many ways, Spain’s fighting set the stage for the carnage that was to engulf the world in flames. History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend, with people from the past… Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:51 — 6.3MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 25, 2016 – In this episode, we’ll be boarding a Pullman car attached to one of the great trains connecting the North American east and west coasts, all the way up into the Alaskan and Yukon territories — and very nearly across the Bering Strait to Siberia. Our conductor on this journey is Gordon E. Tolton, author of Healy’s West: The Life and Times of John J. Healy. Gordon is a Western Canadian historic interpreter and author of the previous books, The Cowboy Cavalry, and Prairie Warships. You can join his Facebook group, Ranger Gord’s Publications, for discussions of Western Canada’s history and some self-described goofball humor. Follow him guest on Twitter @RMRanger, and check out his blog: RangerGordsRoundup.Wordpress.com. Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:13 — 51.5MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 22, 2016 – Today’s history author, Andrew D. Kaufman, author of Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times. He’s going to share how, incredibly, one of the greatest works of fiction in history… almost didn’t happen. Fortunately, Leo Tolstoy married the right woman, and she helped him in ways nobody else could have. You can also follow today’s guest on Twitter @AndrewDKaufman. History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past. Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:54 — 6.3MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 20, 2016 – It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today you should consider yourself warned. We are going to be discussing some adult topics. To be specific, we are going to be looking at some adult humor that sprung from the mind of one of the ancient worlds most notorious comic playwright, Aristophanes. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your first cup of coffee, right here on the History Author Show. Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:58 — 6.4MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 18, 2016 – This week, we’re flying our time machine across the Equator and into South America’s turbulent past, where we’ll meet some colorful characters, present at key moments of its history. They include Pablo Escobar, Butch Cassidy, Sundance, Charles Darwin, and a 14-year-old girl, Juanita, who the Incas sacrificed atop a twenty-thousand foot volcano. Our tour guide to the Andes is author and filmmaker Kim MacQuarrie, who has won four Emmys for his documentaries. His latest book is Life and Death in the Andes: On the Trail of Bandits, Heroes, and Revolutionaries. You can follow him @KimMacQ on Twitter, and learn more about his work at KimMacQuarrie.com. The F/X channel is developing Kim’s previous book, The Last Days of the Incas, into a 13-part TV series: Conquistadors. Other books we discuss include Candice Millard’s epic Amazon history: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey. Podcast: Download (Duration: 37:55 — 34.7MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 15, 2016 – Today’s history author, Jean Edward Smith, author of Grant, discusses the life and legacy of Ulysses S. Grant, from great disappointments and outright failures, to Civil War battlefields and, ultimately, the White House. The book bears a single word, the name of a modest man who became a legend. Grant. Frederick Douglas called him “the last of the radicals” and he wrote memoirs so beautiful that critics have called them some of the most beautiful works in the English language. In this week’s episode, Jean Edward Smith shares with us five things you need to know about General Grant. History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past. Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:13 — 3.9MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 13, 2015 – It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are visiting with Plato and we are going to discuss political philosophy. This might be a bit of a controversial idea, but Plato believed that democratic government had only one logical outcome-tyranny. How does this happen? Listen in to find out. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your first cup of coffee, right here on the History Author Show. Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:49 — 7.2MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 11, 2016 – In this episode, we’re going to Charleston our way back to the Manhattan of our theme song, New York Ain’t New York Anymore. Yes, it’s the Jazz Age of speakeasies and Prohibition — and our tour guide is none other than the Theater Districts most famous resident ghost, sighted from time to time in the New Amsterdam Theater. Our guest, author Laini Giles, has written our ticket to one of Hollywood Land’s very first scandal in The Forgotten Flapper: A Novel of Olive Thomas. You may not know Olive’s name today, but a hundred years ago she was one of the loveliest girls who ever lit up the Ziegfeld Follies or the silent screen. Laini Giles’ previous novel is Love Lies Bleeding. You can follow her on Twitter @4GottenFlapper and visit her online at LainiGiles.com. Laini is also happy to share some other Jazz Age books in this episode. They are Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. Hollywood Babylon, by Kenneth Anger. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin, by Marion Meade. Podcast: Download (Duration: 31:16 — 28.6MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 8, 2016 – Today, James Tobin — winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography — shares one of the greatest stories of defiance and overcoming infirmity in: The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency. When polio robbed Franklin Delano Roosevelt of his legs at age 39, the conventional wisdom agreed that his political career was over. Certainly nobody thought he’d rise to the office of his distant cousin, Eleanor’s uncle Theodore Roosevelt. But Roosevelt kept trying treatments, methods and exercises to cope with his disability — a method of never giving up and continuing to try that helped him confront the Great Depression, and the Second World War. History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past. Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:08 — 5.6MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

January 6, 2016 – It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Let me ask you something. How many friends do you have? Are they REALLY your friends? Is it possible that your friends are using you for utility or pleasure. If you’ve never thought of these things, then don’t worry. Aristotle certainly did. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your first cup of coffee, right here on the History Author Show. Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:30 — 6.9MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More